Reclining seat



My 21 '1.946 w. E. MoREY ET AL 2,400,705

' REGLINING SEAT Original Filed Nov., 18, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 BY M u.AATTORNEY EaZ/vll /Vz'chols May 21, 1946.

RECLINING SEAT 5 Sheets-sheet 2 Original Filed Nov. 18, 1939 ATTRNEY May21, 1946. w. E. MORY x-:TAL

REGLINING SEAT original Filedv Nov. 18,*1959- 15r Sheets-Sheet 5INVENTORS h/am E. Morey /alh @Nichols ATTORNEY Patented May 21, 194eBECLINING SEAT William E. Morey, Huntington, W. Va., and Ralph G.Nichols, Weldon Spring,`Mo., assignors to American Car and FoundryCompany, New York, N. Y., a corporation o! New Jersey Originalapplication November 18, 1939. Serial Divided and this applicationDecember 15, 1942, Serial No. 469,053

Y (Cl. 155-90) This invention relates to reclining seats in .5 Claims.

general and in particular to such seats for use in road or rail vehicleswherein the seat back and cushion move in unison to a recliningposition, and is a division of our application for Reclining seat,Serial No. 305,054 iiled November 18, 1939, and now Patent 2,319,743,granted May 18, 1943.

The majority of reclining seats now in use have the back portion movablerelative to the cushion with the result that a person can only be in themost comfortable position at one point of seat back adjustment. As theseat back is inclined the angular relation between the passengers legsand back varies and may vary to such a degree as to be very tiring tothe passenger. The major reason for such discomfort to the passenger is'due to the fact `that in a number of the inclined positions .the lowerportion of the spine is not properly supported, this being due to thechange in angular relation between the seat back and cushion. It hasbeen proven by experiement that the greatest comfort is obtained whenthe seat back and cushion have a constant angular relationship, with theenclosed angle being approximately 90 degrees. It is an object,therefore, of the present invention to provide a reclining seat in whichthe seat back and the cushion are at a constant angular relation to eachother.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a reclining seatin which the rear portion of the cushion lowers as the seat back assumesa more reclining position.

A still further object of the invention is thel provision of a seathaving `the back and cushion rockably supported upon the seatI base bymeans of links. i

A yet further object of the invention is the provision of a recliningseat the motion of which may be accurately controlled by an extremelysimple operating mechanism.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent to personsskilled in the art from a study of the following description andaccompanying drawings, in which;

Figure 1 is an end elevational view of the improved seat and disclosingthe seat by full lines in normal position and by line and dash in thefully tilted or reclining position;

Fig. 2 is a -plan view of the seat supporting and reclining mechanism;

Fig. `3 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 3-3 of Fig. 4,and

Fig. i is an enlarged partial plan view of the operating mechanism withparts broken away to lus better disclose the construction.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, it will be seen that the seatis revolvably supported upon a pedestal 2 by means of a seat base 4which may revolve only in a substantially horizontal plane. The seatbase may be made of any desired material but in the present instance [isshown as constructed of wood, carrying adjacent its front corners lugs 5formed with upstanding ears 8, across whic'h a pin l may extend and uponwhich is pivotally mounted the lower ends of front supporting links 8.The base frame is also provided adjacent its rear corners with hangedU-shaped castings 9 secured to the base by any suitable means such asscrews i0. Pins l2 extend across thev sides of each flanged U-shapedcasting and pivotally support the lower ends of rear supporting links i3of such a length as to rest upon and extend outwardly.beyond rearvertically extending liange i4 of the anged U-shaped castings.

The seat portion proper consists of a seat back I8 preferably rigidlyconnected to a skeleton seat frame Il upon which rests a cushion i8preferably secured to cushion supporting board I9, which latter may beeither permanently or removably secured to the skeleton seat frame. The

' front cross board of the skeleton seat frame has secured theretoadjacent its ends lugs 20 having outstanding ears 22 across which extendpins 23 rotatably supported upon the upper ends of front supportinglinks 8 previously referred to. The rear cross member of the skeletonseat frame has secured thereto adjacent its ends lugs 24 formed withoutstanding ears 26 across which extend pins 2l rotatably supported uponthe upper ends of rear supporting links i3 previously referred to. Inthis manner the seat back, skeleton 'seat frame and cushion are linksupported at a plurality of points upon the rotatably mounted seat base.At-

tention is directed to the fact that if desired the relative lengths ofthe front and rear supporting links may be changed, in this way thenormal inclination of the cushion supporting board and, therefore.l thecushion surface may be controlled as can also the amount oi angularmovement permitted. Attention is also particularly directed to the factthat the front and rear supporting links are oppositely directed, thuscertain of the forces acting on the links will tend to cancel each otherand any mechanism controlling the position of the skeleton seat framewill need to control only the difference in forces'acting upon thelinks.

As clearly shown in the drawings, the diiference in forces acting uponthe links is controlled by means of a mechanism carried by the skeletonseat frame and connected to certain of the frame supporting links. Asshown the front support links are provided with a central openingthrough which a pin 56 may extend thereby forming a connection for thefront end of a control rod or thrust rod 51, the rear end of which isformed with a screw thread B adapted to engage similar threads cutinternally of the hub of a bevel gear ing knob Will cause rotation ofthe bevel gears in unison and cause the thrust rod 51 to move in or outrelative vto the bevel gear 59 and thus in eect changing the distancebetween the axis of the shaft 62 and the pin 56. This change in distancewill, of course, permit an angular motion between the. frame and frontsupporting link 8 thereby positively controlling the tilting movementsof the skeleton seat frame and its attached back and seat cushion.

It will be seen that the front supporting links 8 are inclined at agreater angle to the horizontal than are the rear supporting links andthis is true --whether the seat is in the normal or reclined position.Due to the'diiferent and changing angular relation existing between thesupporting links, the horizontal components of theforces acting on thelinks will be of diierent magnitude and' in opposite directions. Thediierence in these components must be absorbed by the thrust rods andtheir operating mechanism. That the thrust rods can absorb this thrustand hold the seat in` any adjusted position is evident'fromthe drawingsfor there can be no relative motion between the supporting links 8 andthe seat frame unless the distance between pin 56 and axis of tubularshaft ilcatlons and rets of are contemplated as will fall within thescope of the ap pended claims deiining our invendop.

What is claimed is:

1. A reclining seat comprising in combination, a supporting structure, aseat base carried by said supporting structure, a seat trame having acushion receiving portion, independent upwardly diverging linkspivotallyconnected at .their upper ends to said seat frame and at their lowerends to said seat base and supporting the front and rear sides of saidframe upon said base for reclining movement ofthe frame, a shaftrotatably carried by said seat trame, gearing carried by said shaft, andthrust rods connected to the links sup porting the front side of saidseat frame and having threaded engagement with a part of said gearing tocontrol the movement of the front links and thereby the recliningmovements of said seat frame.

2. A reclining seat comprising in combination,

a seat base carried by a supporting structure, a

. and connected to said 62is changed by rotation of the bevel gears. The

provision of the' bevel gears and screw threads 58 produces a powerincreasing arrangement permitting the operator to readily adjust theseat position in either direction between the normal and fully reclinedposition of the seat. v

In operating the mechanism it is only necessary for the'occupant of thescatto turn the operating knob 63 in the desired direction thus causingthe tubular shaft and bevel gears to rotate. 'Rotation of the bevelgear` 59 will cause the thrust link or control rod 51 to move in and outof the bevel gear under control of the threads 58.

While the mechanism has been described more or less in detail withspecific reference' to the drawings, it will be apparent to personsskilled in the art that variousmodiilcations and rearrangements of partsmay be made and Yall such modiseat frame having a .cushion receivingportion,

a rear pair of upwardly and rearwardly inclinedl links pivotallysupported at their lower ends on said base and pivotally connected attheir upper ends to said seat frame, a front pair of upwardly andforwardly inclined shorter links connected at their lower' ends to saidseat base and vat their upper ends to said seat frame, said pairs oflinks pivotally supporting said frame upon said base for recliningmovement of the frame, a shaft rotatably carried by said seat'frame. apair of supporting structure, a seat frame having a cushion receivingportion, independent upwardly diverging links pivotally connected attheir upper ends to said seat frame and at their lower ends to saidseatbase and supporting opposite sides of said frame upon said base forreclining movement of the frame, and means controlling the recliningmovement of said seat frame and'comprlsing, a thrust rod connected toone of said links, operating means carried by said seat frame thrust rodto cause movement thereof.

4. A reclining ,seatcomprising in combination, a supporting structure, aseat base carried by said supporting structure; a seat frame having acushion receiving portion, independent diversng links pivotallyconnectedv at their upper ends to said seat frame and at their lowerends to said seat base and supporting each side of said frame upon saidbase for reclining movements of the frame,

and means controlling the reclining movement of supporting structure, aseat frame-having a cushion receiving portion, independent upwardlydiiverging links pivotally connected at their upper ends to said seatframe and at their' lower ends to said seat base at xed points thereonand supporting the front and rear sides of said frame upon said base forreclining movement of the i frame, a shaft rotatably carried by saidseat frame, sets of gearing including a gear carried adjacent each endof said shaft. thrust rods connected to the links supporting the frontside of said frame, said thrust rods having threaded,

engagement with the adjacent gearing and operable thereby to change theangular position of the front links whereby the reclining movements ofsaid seat frame are controlled.

WILLIAM E. MOREY. RALPH G. NICHOLS.

